


An Honest Costume

by donniedont



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Costume Parties & Masquerades, Gen, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Self Confidence Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-12-06 20:50:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18225257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donniedont/pseuds/donniedont
Summary: Ran doesn't understand why she needs to try with a costume to Kokoro's Halloween party.  While her bandmates are able to help her come up with something, it takes going to the party for her to truly feel confident in it.  Featured in the Bandori Hallowzine.





	An Honest Costume

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was in the Bandori Hallowzine a little while back! It was a lot of fun writing Bandori characters for the first time and I hope to write about these girls a lot more!

As soon as Ran walked up to Tomoe and Ako’s house, she felt a twinge of regret. Even standing outside of it, it pulsated with noise, completed with music playing, someone screaming, and another voice providing instructions. She rang the doorbell and shoved her hands in her pockets. The door opened, Tomoe standing in front of her. “You made it!” she exclaimed.

Ran shrugged as she walked inside, wincing when Tomoe tossed her arm across Ran’s shoulder. Ran eyed Tomoe’s outfit, trying to make sense of it. She was wearing a typical red flannel, along with a sports bra and some fitted jeans. However, she had fluffy ears perched on her head, a tail pinned to her back, and a pair of fluffy paws on her hands. “What are you supposed to be?” she asked.

“I’m a werewolf!” Tomoe explained, forming claws with the gloves. 

“Okay…” Ran said.

“Did you figure out what you were gonna wear?” Tomoe asked.

Ran shrugged. “I’m dressed in black. Isn’t that enough?”

Tomoe shook her head as she led Ran to the family room, where their bandmates were spread out across the floor in various states of dressed. They all dropped what they were doing to say hello, giving her hugs before they resumed whatever they were doing.

“Where’s your costume?” Moca asked. Ran nearly did a double-take when she saw that she was wearing a sheet with holes cut out around her eyes.

“Where’s yours?” Ran asked.

Moca raised her arms, the pose looking comical with the sheet covering them. She made a haunted noise before she said, “I’m a ghost!”

Ran shook her head. “Okay, fine,” she replied. She saw that Tsugumi was putting bear ears in her hair, which seemed pretty normal. Himari was pulling at the red straps of her top, her horns indicating that she was some kind of devil. 

“Did you bring anything that we can make a costume out of?” Himari asked.

“I’m wearing black,” Ran said, “That’s enough, right?”

The other girls looked at each other, frowning and shaking their heads with various degrees of seriousness. “I mean… Kokoro’s hosting…,” Tomoe finally said.

The other girls all bowed their heads solemnly. 

“She was really insistent on everybody wearing a costume when she gave me an invitation,” Tsugumi added.

“We just want to make sure you have the most fun!” Himari added.

Ran shifted from side to side, sighing uncomfortably. “Well, I don’t really have anything that I can make into a costume. I’ll just deal with whatever she says to me.” 

Tomoe snapped her fingers. “Ako definitely has stuff in her room. Let’s go!” she exclaimed.

Everybody got up, even if some of them had half made faces. They made their way to Ako’s room, which was where Ran realized the loud music was coming from. Tomoe knocked on the door, it eventually opening up to Ako wearing a cutesy nurses dress. She had a fake syringe in her free hand, a long chain of charms coming off of it. When Ran looked over her shoulder, she saw Rinko sitting on her bed.

“Hey, sis! You got any animal ears that would go with Ran’s outfit?” Tomoe asked. The rest of the girls said hi to them.

Ako grinned. “Of course I do!” she exclaimed. She ushered them into her room and began digging through her nightstand. She pulled out a long black tail and a pair of black cat ears, silver piercings going along the sides. She brought them close to Ran’s head and she nodded. “Perfect! Here ya go!” she said, shoving them in Ran’s hands. Ran looked down, hoping that her cheeks weren’t as red as they felt when she said, “Oh? Uh…” but by the time she could get herself to say anything else, everyone was getting ushered out of the room and Ako closed the door behind them.

Ran continued staring at the pair of ears in her hands.

“You’re going to look great!” Himari exclaimed.

“We gotta paint some whiskers on you, though,” Moca added, gesturing lines against her own cheeks. 

“I’ll put them on you when I’m done getting ready!” Himari added.

They collectively got ready, Himari holding herself to her promise and painting whiskers, as well as a black triangle on Ran’s nose. When Ran looked at herself in the mirror, she was torn. She could admit to herself it was a cute costume idea. She loved cats, even if she didn’t want to broadcast it. But she wondered if wearing a costume like this would give it away. It would broadcast a weakness to a room that was full of her musical competition.

A room that would most likely have her rival, Yukina, in it.

She tentatively reached toward the ears, considering taking them off and telling everybody that she would suffer the wrath of Kokoro. But Tomoe said it was time for them to leave and she knew that she would get quite the disappointing look from her if she saw her rip it off just then. So she joined the rest of the group outside, Ako and Rinko joining behind them. Ako’s costume was completed, the syringe actually being a purse that appeared to be full of bright pink Band Aids, one of which she stuck on Rinko’s cheek for emphasis. Rinko didn’t seem to mind, even if it clashed with her deep purple outfit. At first Ran thought she was a witch, but it was obvious that with her slightly drooping hat and the careful layering of her outfit, she was something more powerful.  
They made their way to Kokoro’s house, which was always opulent, but now decorated in a way that it could have passed as a haunted mansion in the dark. They walked to the door and Kokoro seemed to instantly open it nodding approvingly at the costumes as she let everyone in. Ran avoided looking her in the eye, even though Kokoro cooed about it. The party itself was full of girls in costume, including the Pastel*Palette girls. Even if Ran interacted with them enough times to see them as more than industry girls, they still seemed to have perfect makeup and hair. Hello, Happy World! seemed to be up to their usual nonsense, goofing off and laughing loudly about it. Poppin’ Party seemed to be split up among different groups, though the all seemed to wave at each other if they were within their eyesight. Scattered throughout the room was Roselia, including Lisa, who was rushing over to say hello to Ako and Rinko and giving a side hug to Moca. 

Ran took it as a chance to wave and slip her way toward the kitchen, where she helped herself to some snacks. She found a seat in the corner and sat down, loudly crunching on baby carrots. She waved at anyone who spotted her and was grateful that no one bothered to sit down with her for a decent amount of time. She continued eating, stopping mid-crunch when she head a pair of boots clip clop near her, a person standing to her side. She finished eating her carrot, swallowing hard before she looked up and saw Yukina staring down at her. She had a pair of floppy grey ears, a fluffy tail dragging down from her skirt. Her arms were crossed and she looked like she would have had an intimidating frown, if her cheeks weren’t marked with whiskers.

“Hello,” Ran mumbled, hoping her panic wouldn’t read in her face.

“Hello,” Yukina parrotted. “I see you’re a cat.”

Ran nodded. “Uh, Ako had some ears, so… it ended up being my costume, I guess.”

Yukina tilted her head. “Oh,” she said, “I… see.”

“Yeah. I didn’t think anybody else would be a cat,” Ran replied.

Yukina clenched her arms tighter. “So you don’t like cats?”

Ran realized she was in a bind. In truth, she loved cats. They were one of her favorite animals. But she didn’t want people to know of it, out of fear that people would know and take advantage of it. She shrugged. “Uh,” she said, “I mean… they’re fine.”

Yukina tilted her head back. “I mean, I agree,” she said. She turned on her heel and added, “See you around.” 

Ran wasn’t even able to react, looking around to see if she had a witness to the moment. It didn’t seem like she did, because Tomoe spotted her and dragged a chair next to Ran. “You disappeared,” she noted, “What was that with Yukina?”

“Not really sure,” Ran replied.

“Well, you’re both cats. Rival cats. It’s kind of funny, to be honest.” She leaned her head on Ran’s shoulder and asked, “Are you two ever going to talk beyond your music?”

Ran shrugged. “I like our rivalry. It helps me do better. That’s enough for me.”

Tomoe rolled her eyes. “I mean, yeah, I’m not saying you should drop the rivalry… I’m just saying that you may want to look into maybe being friends.”

Ran sighed. “I mean, mabe. But I’m not going to force it.”

“To be fair, she approached you last time. So it would be your turn to talk to her.” Ran slopped her shoulder, letting Tomoe flop off of it. Tomoe just raised her hands and exclaimed, “I’m just saying! I mean, I’ll go over with you at some point. But you should be the one that tries to talk to her first.”

“I don’t want her to think I’m weak,” Ran mumbled.

“Of course not,” Tomoe replied, “But I don’t think befriending each other is a sign of weakness. I would argue friendship is one of the strongest things ever, seeing as though it’s the foundation of our band!”

Ran sighed loudly, even though she was smiling. “Give me a few minutes,” she said.

Tomoe did just that. She focused on stealing food off of Ran’s plate and doing that thing where she was talking at her, but it wasn’t rude. It helped Ran be able to focus on herself and trying to mentally prepare for what could potentially be a more vulnerable conversation that Tomoe realized.

Tomoe then placed her hand on Ran’s shoulder and said, “Okay, let’s go.” Ran didn’t not, but she still got up. Tomoe scanned the crowd, eventually finding Yukina in a conversation circle with Lisa and Moca. Lisa was laughing, the fangs in her mouth giving away that she was definitely some kind of vampire. Tomoe waved, Ran trying her best to smile. Lisa greeted them, grabbing onto Tomoe’s sleeve as Moca waved her hands, causing the whole sheet she was wearing to rise. Yukina just looked at Ran, her face still stern in spite of the cat ears on her head.

Ran realized that they were kicked out of the other conversation, though she wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not. She tried to think about Tomoe’s encouragement, even if she didn’t seem as invested in helping her anymore. “Uh, I like your costume,” Ran said.

Yukina seemed surprised by the news. “Oh,” she said, “Uh, thank you. The piercings on your ears suit you.”

Ran pushed at the earrings along her cat ears and smiled. “Thanks,” she mumbled. “Uh… you… like cats?”

Yukina looked like she was about to cough. She didn’t, but it took her a long while to reply. “Uh, sure. Sure.”

Ran nodded her head. “I actually do, too. I kind of… undersold it last time you asked,” she said. She willed herself to grin and was greeted by Yukina smiling back. They both turned simultaneously, trying to insert themselves back into the conversation, even though Ran was content standing just standing near Yukina.


End file.
